An Ethiopian Airlines plane conveying 149 passengers and 8 crew members has crashed, the airline said. The plane is believed to have crashed 7 minutes after take off, according to local reports.The Ethiopian prime minister's official Twitter account has expressed condolences to families of those lost.

The PM's office wrote on Twitter:

"The office of the PM, on behalf of government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it's deepest condolences to the families that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this

morning".

None of the 157 people on board an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed on Sunday morning en route to Nairobi from Addis Ababa have survived, the airline said. The aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members, took off at 08:38am (05:38 GMT) and lost contact with air traffic controllers six minutes later.

It crashed near Bishoftu, southeast of the Ethiopian capital, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash of the plane, which was new and had been delivered to the airline in November. The pilot, who had been working for the carrier since 2010, sent out a distress call shortly after take-off and was given clearance to return.

Tewolde Gebremariam, the airline's CEO, visited the scene of the crash and confirmed no one had survived.

Unfortunately for Nigerians, making waves around the globe has its disadvantages. I just got information that Professor Pius Adesanmi, a Nigerian professor with Carlton University in Canada is among those that died this morning on the ill fated Ethiopia airline.

Reports suggest that the Prof. was on his way to attend the AU ECOSOCC committee meeting in Nairobi. RIP. @pius_adesanmi.. Below is the list of nationalities that were involved in the crash.